萬物簡史 第82期:敲石頭的人們(14)

Meanwhile, geology had a great deal of sorting out todo, and not all of it went smoothly. From theoutset geologists tried to categorize rocks by theperiods in which they were laid down, but there wereoften bitter disagreements about where to put thedividing lines—none more so than a long-runningdebate that became known as the Great DevonianControversy. The issue arose when the ReverendAdam Sedgwick of Cambridge claimed for theCambrian period a layer of rock that RoderickMurchison believed belonged rightly to the Silurian.The dispute raged for years and grew extremely heated. "De la Beche is a dirty dog,"Murchison wrote to a friend in a typical outburst.

與此同時，地質學有大量的分類工作要做，這項工作不是什么都一帆風順的。從一開始，地質學家就想把巖石按其形成的時期來進行分類，但在怎么劃分時期的問題上經常發(fā)生激烈的爭論——而且是一場曠日持久的爭論，后來被稱之為“泥盆紀大爭論”。劍橋大學的亞當·塞奇威克斷言有一層巖石是寒武紀的，而羅德里克·默奇森認為它完全屬于志留紀，爭論于是就發(fā)生了。爭論持續(xù)了好多年，而且越來越激烈。“巴謝是個下流痞子。”默奇森在給一位朋友的信中氣呼呼地說。

Some sense of the strength of feeling can be gained by glancing through the chapter titles ofMartin J. S. Rudwick's excellent and somber account of the issue, The Great DevonianControversy. These begin innocuously enough with headings such as "Arenas of GentlemanlyDebate" and "Unraveling the Greywacke," but then proceed on to "The Greywacke Defendedand Attacked," "Reproofs and Recriminations," "The Spread of Ugly Rumors," "Weaver RecantsHis Heresy," "Putting a Provincial in His Place," and (in case there was any doubt that this waswar) "Murchison Opens the Rhineland Campaign." The fight was finally settled in 1879 with thesimple expedient of coming up with a new period, the Ordovician, to be inserted between thetwo.

在《泥盆紀大爭論》一書里，馬丁·J.S.魯迪克極好而又有些沮喪地描述了這場爭論。只要瞥一眼該書各章的標題，就可以知道一點上述感情的強烈程度。開頭幾章的標題的語氣倒還溫和，比如《紳士們的辯論舞臺》和《破譯雜砂巖之謎》，但接著就是《捍衛(wèi)雜砂巖與攻擊雜砂巖》、《指摘與反駁》、《散布惡毒的謠言》、《韋弗撤回邪說》、《殺殺鄉(xiāng)下人的氣焰》(惟恐你還懷疑這不是一場戰(zhàn)爭)、《默奇森發(fā)起萊茵蘭戰(zhàn)役》等等。爭論于1879年得以解決，辦法很簡單，在寒武紀和志留紀中間加一個時期：奧陶紀。